Several companies are announcing financial donations to help fight the pandemic. There are already more than 2,000 infected people in Brazil.
In Brazil, large companies are announcing donations to help fight the coronavirus. Several companies have already offered help with infrastructure and financial resources. Some of them are Lojas Renner, Itaú, Ambev, Petrobras, Vale, MRV.
In Brazil, the pandemic has already reached all states. According to the state health departments, there are already 2,554 thousand infected people and 59 deaths registered. In the state of São Paulo alone, there were 48. Pernambuco, Amazonas and Rio Grande do Sul also have records.
THEBelow are some of the companies that have already announced donations:
Renner Stores
The Lojas Renner Institute announced that it will allocate R$4.1 million to help purchase supplies for hospitals responsible for units of the Unified Health System (SUS) in Santa Catarina (São José, in Criciúma, and São Donato, in Içara), Rio Grande do Sul (Conceição and Clínicas hospitals, in Porto Alegre) and São Paulo (reference units and such as InCor).
Part of the amount will also be donated to the community in the Bom Jesus neighborhood, in the city of Porto Alegre, close to the company's administrative headquarters, where approximately 35 thousand people live.
“This is the starting point of our contribution… The initiatives will be constantly reassessed and may be expanded in the coming weeks,” the company said in a statement.
Itau Unibanco
The bank announced that it will donate R$150 million, through the Itaú Foundation for Education and Culture and the Unibanco Institute, to hospital infrastructure, to purchase equipment, food baskets and hygiene kits. The contribution is to support the most vulnerable communities and help in the treatment of infected people.
According to the company, the destination of the donation “is being evaluated based on the most urgent needs and the availability of production and delivery”.
Itau, Santander and Bradesco
The banks will donate medical equipment, such as CT scanners and respirators. The three banks will together donate 5 million rapid tests to detect COVID-19. The initiative will take into account the guidelines of the Ministry of Health and the availability of the items on the market.
Ambev and Gerdau
Together with the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein and the City of São Paulo, the two companies announced assistance in the construction of a hospital with 100 beds exclusively for public care through the Unified Health System (SUS).
Gerdau will provide the steel, which will be the main raw material for the construction method, and Ambev will contribute to the management of the project.
The treatment center will be built next to the M'Boi Mirim Municipal Hospital in the southern part of São Paulo. According to the announcement, the new facility will have its first 40 beds delivered within 20 days, and by April 30, the 100 beds will be ready. The health unit will then be handed over to the City of São Paulo.
Petrobras
Petrobras will donate 600,000 tests to diagnose the novel coronavirus to the Brazilian public health system (SUS). The tests will be imported from the United States and are expected to arrive in the country in April. Of this total, 400,000 will be allocated to the Ministry of Health and 200,000 to the Health Department of the State of Rio de Janeiro.
The oil company reported that it will also direct part of the processing capacity of high-performance computers (HPC) – “supercomputers” – to contribute to university research on combating the coronavirus.
OK
The mining company announced the purchase of 5 million rapid test kits to detect the new coronavirus. The tests were purchased in China and provide results in 15 minutes. They will arrive in the country in April.
Vale is also purchasing personal protective equipment from China, such as glasses, gloves and masks, for doctors and nurses. The material will also be sent to the Brazilian government.
MRV and Banco Inter
The Menin family group, which includes the companies MRV, Banco Inter and LOG CP, announced the purchase of mechanical respirators for the hospital network in the state of Minas Gerais in partnership with the Federation of Industries of the State of Minas Gerais (FIEMG). The investment was R$10 million.